


You Are My Son

by Twilight_Shadow_Songs



Series: The Dad!Hector AU [1]
Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: F/M, I seriously and honestly think Hector'd make a great dad if given the chance, Quirin and Hector have solidarity, partially canon compliant, slight AU, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:00:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25082758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twilight_Shadow_Songs/pseuds/Twilight_Shadow_Songs
Summary: Hector guards the tree.Except no. Try again.Hector raises the prince.
Relationships: Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel, Hector and Eugene as father/son
Series: The Dad!Hector AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1819933
Comments: 8
Kudos: 57





	You Are My Son

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CampionSayn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CampionSayn/gifts).



Hector loved his king. Edmund was his friend, in a distinct manner of speaking between a knight and his master. His wife had been a kind woman. A good woman who was as good at fighting as any of them, but also happy and gentle, though often reserved. A sense of humor to rival Adira’s. 

“I want you to guard the edges of the kingdom” Edmund had muttered as he stood over his wife, still and silent and dead on their bed. “Nobody comes in. Make sure everyone leaves.” Hector almost said yes. He should have. Protecting Edmund’s wishes were his job. 

But his eyes were drawn to a baby cradle in the corner. Yes, Horace had his own nursery, nannies to take care of him, but the queen had always wanted him with her at night. Her first child.

The queen would sing lullabies to Horace no more. This kingdom had always been a little gloomy, but the queen was always bright and gentle. She’d offered Horace to Hector with a laugh  _ ‘Do you want to hold him? You’ll be one of his sword instructors after all.’ _

_ ‘Er-another time, my queen.’ _

“What about the prince?”

“Horace is being taken by his nurse. He’s fine.”

“That woman’s left him on towers-that Adira had to get him down from. He is  _ not _ fine!”

“Hector!”

Hector stood his ground, face drawn and teeth grit. 

“I owe you more than being a glorified guard. This kingdom will need it’s prince. You gonna chance he doesn’t learn his heritage or know about you?” He gestured at the prone woman. “Know about  _ her?” _

Edmund’s face contorted in grief he gestured at the door. 

“Take him, then. If you can catch the caravan.” 

Hector swore, turned, and ran from Edmund. Who was an idiot. A grief stricken, maddened man, but still an idiot. 

He did catch the caravan in time. He took the boy in his blankets and stared at Horace, who by some miracle had remained asleep. 

Adira had abandoned her people to search for the mythic sunstone. Hector swallowed the grief of having lost her only to also abandon the kingdom. Hector cradled Horace against his chest.

_ ‘Your majesty, Miette! What are you doing?!’ _

_ ‘It’s Horace! I have to get my baby! Hector, help me! Save my baby!’ _

On the journey he adapts as a father with his son. He pretends, acts like a young parent from a war torn country as much as he knows how, and the mothers they encounter show him how to take care of the boy on his own.

=+=+=+=

The first time Horace, now Eugene to blend into Corona, called him dad, Hector almost cut off his own thumb while skinning a deer. Eugene at this moment in time is six, and scruffy. He plays with the kids in the orphanage and his best friend is a practical sink hole on legs, which frankly pleased Hector. This kid is the only one who asks for seconds. Arnwaldo. 

But this time Eugene is alone. He’s got a defiant look and Hector has never seen him look more like Edmund in his life. Eugene knows his father is named Edmund. He knows he and Hector had to leave their kingdom for their own safety. Eugene knows there’s magic. 

He knows Hector’s not family. 

“I met someone else with your tattoo, dad.”

Hector yelped as his knife sliced into his own palm, managing to twist his blade to not cut off his fingers. He turned to Eugene, whose face was defiant and quiet. 

Instead of yet again going “I ain’t yer dad.”, he focused on the tattoo. It’s magic. It’s for the Brotherhood. He abandons his deer skinning for the moment and kneels by Eugene. 

“I need you to tell me who you met and what they said, kid. Tell me everything.”

“Are we in danger?” 

Hector bit his tongue. Eugene was a six year old who had nightmares about waking up in that orphanage where Arnwaldo was. kids always hungry, not enough fitting clothes, toys always broken. So when Eugene asks ‘are we in danger’ he means, ‘are you going to die.’

He places his uninjured hand on Eugene’s shoulder. “No kid. We ain’t. But I gotta know what they said to you.”

And two hours later Hector is seeing a ghost. Quirin. Who has a life of his own. A wife, a new identity. Something he abandoned him and Adira for. And Hector felt the broken urge to scream at him, to rant and rave and cry. Or flee with the prince because Quirin  _ abandoned them _ so why does he deserve to see the kid that Hector is taking care of?

He did none of the above. He invites Quirin and his wife to food. He has Eugene invite Arnwaldo. Two days later he finds a crow in his garden. It has a letter from Edmund. Hector offers to read it to Eugene, who shakes his head. Instead, he asks Hector to play with him. 

They play pirates and thieves (with Eugene helping Hector play with peals of happy laughter) and the letter sits unopened on the table.

Later, discreetly, he adopted Arnwaldo.

=+=+=+=

Eugene is twelve when he first shouts he hates Edmund. And Hector can’t actually refute it the way he wants. He’s mostly struck breathless by how this boy resembles his mother, his slow anger like hers. For one instant Hector relives the last moments of Miette’s life. Her shouting at him. 

Suddenly he’s wrapping this angry child in a hug, the most emotion he’s allowed himself since the kid was eight and he’d been caught stealing an apple for his friends. 

“Your dad-”

“ _ You’re  _ my dad!”

“Edmund went mad from living near that stupid moonstone! But he can’t leave! A king stays with his kingdom!” Eugene had reeled as Hector sat heavily with him, not something he’d done since the boy was much smaller. 

“But you ain’t king. An he didn’t want ya hurt like yer mum.” 

“What happened? The truth, dad.”

Hector was once again breathless. This boy wore braids in his hair and his clothes were made from hides and he knew how to fight, how to dress a wound. How to steal. 

He wasn’t really a ‘prince’, was he. 

“Yer mum died after yer dad went mad and tried harnessin somethin he had no business tryin t’ control. Far as I know yer dad’s still wanderin around the castle, mad as an addled crow.” 

“You always say that.”

“It’s what happened?” Hector asked, suddenly confused what Eugene was even angry about.  


A very serious face peered into Hector’s. 

“Are you pretendin I’m a king’s son?”

Hector shook his head. “I would  _ never _ lie about that.” came out angry and fierce. “You ain’t mine kid. An yer dad ain’t right in the head. I took you, cuz if I didn’t, well...mebbe there’d be lantern ceremonies for you an not that girl this kingdom’s royals lost.”

Eugene’s head thudded into his shoulder and Hector let him cry. 

=+=+=+=

When he was fifteen he drew the Brotherhood’s mark on his hand and Hector shouted at him. 

“I don’t want to be a prince I want to be like you!” 

Came the shout back, and Hector slammed his fist against the doorframe because this was wrong. He was proud of his status, but the boy wasn't Brotherhood. The Brotherhood served him.  


“No. No. Be  _ better  _ than me!” he stated fiercely as he scrubs the mark off Eugene. "And maybe you'll be halfway alright."  


=+=+=+=

Until Eugene was seventeen, Hector trained him and Arnwaldo in fighting and thievery. Trained Eugene as well as he could in royal standards and how to raise ravens and how to read magic manuscripts. Now and then he’d take him to the Great Tree to look at more of their history. 

When Quirin lost his wife Hector helps raise the toddler. For a moment he sees Edmund and the queen when he holds a four year old Varian on his hip and watches Quirin grieve over his wife. And then it’s gone and Quirin is going to hold his son. 

“You’ve changed, Hector.”

“Nah. I adapted but I still hate all these fuckin people.” He grunts. “Support his back, Quirin. Or there’s gonna be some back issues later.”

When Eugene is arrested, Hector goes. Makes sure he knew what an idiot he was. Flynn Rider? What sort of fake identity was that? The book Hector read to him, really? But if it was what he wanted, fine. 

At least it wasn’t death penalty.

Flynn Rider and Lance Strongbow glare at Hector. And Hector lets them choose. Home with him and community service, or here. They choose to stay in jail, as stupid as that is. Because Eugene is angry at Hector, and Lance always follows Eugene’s lead. 

Hector has to be talked out of breaking them both out that night. Quirin points out, tired but pragmatic, that Eugene wouldn’t go with him. 

When Flynn does get out, he doesn’t go back, and soon Hector has to see his wanted poster everywhere. 

He and Quirin take Varian to the store one day, and Hector takes a quill and discreetly ‘modifies’ Flynn’s nose. He’s decided on a large bumpy one not unlike a cucumber this time. 

“Petty as ever.” Quirin observed with a sigh and a smile. 

“He’s embarrassing his ancestors!”

“ _ You _ showed him how to pick locks, steal, and climb walls.” Quirin pointed out, as calm and quiet as ever. “Maybe he’s not acting like a prince.” Hector nearly dropped the parchment he was inspecting when Quirin continued with a laugh “but he’s certainly acting just like you at that age.”

“...God help us all, then.” He snorted fondly. “I was such a shit.” Absently he used his leg to block Varian from grabbing at a loose nail in the shelves. “Nails are not for taking, it’s got a job to do holding up the shelf.” 

=+=+=+=

Hector didn’t see the prince (he let himself admit Eugene hadn’t been prince Horace for years-to either himself or Eugene-sometimes, when he heard about his exploits in the villages) until the missing princess’s birthday and the lanterns years later. 

Eugene looked like a young Edmund, and the girl was beautiful, eyes wide and green and hair the color of sunlight. And you’d have to be a blind fool to not know Eugene loved her.

Which Eugene was, absolutely. He was so like Edmund when Edmund met his wife.

“Whaaat…” Hector asked, eyes narrowed as he pointed between them. 

“Dad, this is Rapunzel. Rapunzel, this is my-my dad. Hector.” 

The girl hugged him and Hector stared at Eugene, silently demanding an explanation. 

“...so she was locked in a tower. With a crazy bitch. An her hair heals shit. An you got pressed inta helping her see the lanterns.” Hector summed up a bit later, with the distinct feeling this sort of luck could only happen to him. 

“Uh huh. By the way. When did you open a bookstore?”

“Maybe if you tried talkin ta me before this you woulda been able to help pick the name.” Hector mentions with annoyance, but relents at Eugene’s stricken and guilt ridden face. This wasn’t like Adira, it was Eugene. He had to let that old anger go. This was his boy, and he’d come home.

“Also like...everyone’s after me. Even the brothers.”

“Of course.” Hector muttered, annoyed. 

“And the horse.”

“You’re a fuckin idiot.” 

“Possibly her mom, too? Maybe? Lady may have come home early, it’s Rapunzel’s birthday today.”

“...I have no words. You’re dead. I’m dead. Funny I thought somehow I’d be dead by an invention made by Varian.”

He did like the girl though. Despite his words, he liked her. He silently handed her another book on poetry and another two maps. She beamed at him and despite himself he smiled back. Small, wary, but it was there. 

“I’ve never realized how big the world was!” She told him. He decided the girl was a good sort. Also her mom would have a time getting her back because this girl was now under his protection. 

“You and Eugene can stay here till nightfall.” He told her. “And if you and your mom come to an understanding, maybe you can come help me in my store.”

“You...you’d keep the secret?” He glanced her over, and then eyed Eugene, watching her with a bit of a lost lamb look.

“Yea Rapunzel. I’m keeping your secret. Your sort of magic I’ve seen before.” She opened her mouth to ask, and he shook his head. “I’ll let you look at the book later.” He held up a hand. 

“Maybe I raised that boy to steal, but he’s hopeless when it comes to lying.” 

“I don’t know what you mean?” She asked, and he realized whatever she was jumpy about, it might not be over Eugene's feelings for her.  


“...ignore me.” 

They wandered in and out, being discreet. When it was time to see the lanterns, they left to buy theirs. He stopped Eugene with a band on his chest. 

“You tell her you like her or I’m embarrassing the fucking shit out of you.” 

“Don’t you dare.”

“You told her who you are? Who you really are?”

Eugene’d given a sort of motion with his hand. 

“Told her my birth name is Horace. Told her I was from a dead kingdom. Told her you're my adopted dad. She doesn’t know anything else.”

Hector wanted to argue the Dark Kingdom wasn’t dead. Wanted to make Eugene be proud of his heritage. Wanted to reiterate Eugene had a dad. But he looked around him to Rapunzel, looked out the door at the only place Eugene could remember growing up in. Considered the fact the prince had no emotional connection to his own name. He waved them off. “Have fun, don’t fuckin do anything I would.”

Hector invited Quirin and Varian in later for dinner and to watch the lanterns from the roof of the bookstore, the Moon Script. When it was time, he got his lantern out, and when the time came he lit it and let it go. 

“You seem happier today.” Quirin observed as Varian lit his. “What changed?”

“Eugene stopped by. With a girl.” Hector felt his lips quirk up. “She reminded me of th queen. An I’ve never seen that boy look so fuckin happy.”

=+=+=+=

“No, captain, don’t. Not hanging.”

“I’m sorry, Hector. I can’t protect him this time. This isn’t like Lance.” His eyes had narrowed. “Perhaps if you’d had more control over your children.

“Yea, well, he’s still in jail ain’t he. And the fact nobody’s dead tells me all I need to know about how I raised those boys. Or at least...that they’re better than me.” He’d never really wanted them to kill. Get close to the edge but....if Eugene killed someone he felt like he’d failed the queen. If Lance failed he felt like he’d failed himself.

Quirin locked Hector into a room with him and knocked him out. Later, Hector would be grateful. He was ready to burn the entire country to the ground. 

_ Save my baby, protect my baby! _

_ Sorry your highness. I tried. I tried. _

_ I failed.  _

=+=+=+=

“You two are gonna give me goddamned grey hairs.”

Hector said, several days later, when Rapunzel- _ princess  _ Rapunzel and Eugene both wandered into his shop again. 

He smiled at the girl and gave the now brunette a small wave from where he was sitting. 

“Hey girl. How are you?”

She handed him a small book. 

“Thank you.” 

Every page was hand painted. Pieces of a story beautifully illustrated. 

‘The Tales of The Brotherhood’

He very, very nearly cried in front of them. He did later though, with Quirin as they pored over the tales that Hector had told Eugene when he couldn’t stand picking up Flynn Rider one more fucking time. 

Rapunzel, he was sure, had had another name when she was born. Nobody would name their child after a type of cabbage. Gothel was just a demeaning bitch. But her parents seemed fine with the name Rapunzel.

“If they get too much, come here.” He told her calmly. “Plus, yer mum-the real mum-sometimes buys books here.” 

He didn’t like the king much. Sort of hopeless. More hopeless than Edmund and that was saying a lot. 

Later, when he and Eugene were alone, he touched his wrist. 

“You did good.” he’d saved this girl, protected her. And Hector could tell he loved her more than the moon loved the ocean. 

There were years and years of letters from Edmund piled up. Things he wanted to say to his son. Hector gave him none of those.

He slid over a purple necklace. 

“Yer mum would be so proud of you. I’m..well...I didn’t fuck up.” 

“Dad-er-Hector-”

  
  
“No. Dad’s right.”

He took in Eugene. Slightly longer hair the color of the queen’s, braided. A leather belt and a fur lining on his jacket. Even if he wasn’t part of the brotherhood he had their mark on his jacket. His face tended to mirror Hector’s with the emotions. Hector noted the dagger on his hip. He smiled ruefully.

Edmund could fight Hector for him now. Eugene was his, well and truly.

"Thanks, dad."

**Author's Note:**

> Tossing my own hat into the ring. I love Hector, one of my top fave characters from Tangled Adventure. I just had a sudden thought and figured I'd follow it. 
> 
> Though I imagine Hector is just as angry and offputting as canon I feel he’d make an effort to not if raising children.
> 
> Also yes, I named the Dark Kingdom's queen. I needed to call her something. I like Miette. She looks like a Miette to me.


End file.
